


Cruising

by F1_rabbit



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 05:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4335911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1_rabbit/pseuds/F1_rabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico and Esteban both accidentally end up on a gay cruise...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cruising

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fasterthanthetardis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fasterthanthetardis/gifts).



There’s two men on opposite sides of the globe, they’ve both just broken up with their girlfriends for two very different reasons. Esteban kept telling her that he was waiting until he was married, not because he believed it but the thought of having sex with her was just unappealing and after years of trying to set a date she finally left him. He was secretly relieved, and he’s happy that she’s found someone who really loves her. His mum thought a holiday would do him good and got him a ticket to go on a cruise around the Caribbean. 

And Nico broke up with his girlfriend after she kept telling him to ‘man up’ and that real men don’t cry, the final straw was when his niece was born. It was a bad pregnancy and for a while it looked like his sister and the baby might not make it so when he found out they were both ok he cried, and his girlfriend called him a ‘sissy’. He told her to get the fuck out right there and then but now he’s scared to look for another relationship, doesn’t want to fall back into bad habits. His sister and baby Nicola are both fine now and a friend of his, Adrian who’s a travel agent, has got him a good deal on a cruise. A chance to relax after everything that’s happened... 

The cruise ship is massive, towering over the harbour like a floating skyscraper, each window a tiny glimpse into another world. Nico’s lugging his rucksack onto the ship, wondering why there seems to be a distinct lack of women going on board. But he's not really bothered about that, in fact some time away from all of that might be good for him. 

Esteban's sitting on the deck; enjoying his first day at sea, the sun is shining and there's a lovely breeze ruffling his hair. He's glad that he's got his sunglasses on, partly because of the bright sun shining down on him but also so that he can casually stare at the gorgeous blond creature sunbathing on the deck below. His muscular frame ripples as he wriggles to get comfy, sipping his beer as he reads a book. Esteban can't read the title at this distance, but even if he could see it he wouldn't understand it as it's in German. He watches as the blond guy gets hit on over and over again, politely dismissing the queue that's starting to form next to him, literally a queue of guys trying to gain his attention. 

Nico's trying to read his book in peace. It's really quite interesting, a biography of Niki Lauda, but people keep coming up to him and asking if he wants a drink, or a hand with his sunscreen, or just a hand. After one comment about 'what are you hiding in those shorts', Nico's huffily making his way back to his room. He's glad that he added international calls to his mobile plan so that he can phone his 'friend' Adrian and scream at him for free. 

"Do you think this is funny?" Nico says, trying not to yell. 

"Yes," Adrian says with a snigger, "Mr. Ladies Man, stuck on a cruise for gay men for five whole days!" There's more laughter and Nico wants to punch him, repeatedly, in the face. 

"Fuck you," Nico spits, "I thought you were meant to be a friend".

"It was a joke," Adrian says, and Nico immediately thinks of all the times that his girlfriend said it. 'Oh, it's just a joke', 'can't you take a joke' and with that he hangs up on Adrian, violently stabbing the end call button even though no-one's around to see it. But it makes him feel fractionally better. 

Nico gets a shower and puts on jeans and a jumper, even though it's far too warm for either, he just doesn't want to show a lot of skin when he goes to get dinner. Even covered in clothing guys keep pinching his ass and making comments on how he'd look better out of them. As much as he hates his ex-girlfriend, he's got no idea how women put up with this all the time. He's not even sure he's going to be able to cope with four more days of it. 

Esteban watches as the tall blond man from earlier eats his food, he seems genuinely happy when he's eating, enjoying each morsel, even licking his fingers when he's done. Although the look of discomfort that wrinkles his forehead each time someone comes to talk to him is painful to see. Esteban wants to go up and say 'hi', save him from all the sleazy guys that are hitting on him but he's too shy. Even though he knows deep down that his mother didn't book this by accident, which means she must know and better still she supports him. 

The way out of the restaurant is past his table and Esteban aims directly for him, when at the last minute he looks up and smiles and Esteban almost runs out of the restaurant in panic. He goes back to his room and curses the fact that even though he got a smile from him, whereas everyone else that spoke to him received a scowl, he still wasn't confident enough to say 'hi'. Just two little letters, barely a whole syllable and he couldn't even manage that. 

Nico is sitting in his room, full of food, enjoying his book. Wondering what he's going to do for the next four days of his holiday. He's thinking about the beautiful guy he saw earlier, with thick dark hair and a cute smile, who is one of the few guys that hasn't tried to hit on him. Maybe he's here by accident too. 

Esteban's back on the deck hoping to see the tall blond man again, little does he know that Nico's hiding in the small cinema that the ship has, so that he can have a day free of being annoyed constantly. It would be fine if he could say 'no' and that was it but they're always pushing their luck, as if he's too dumb to know his own mind. 

The next morning Nico's heading for breakfast early, trying to avoid the grabby hands and disgusting suggestions, when he sees a familiar face, the guy who smiled at him the other night. He's sitting alone and he looks so sad, which is a shame since he has a beautiful smile. It isn't a conscious decision but Nico's wandering towards his table. 

"Hi, can I join you?" Nico asks, and he's suddenly self-aware, preparing for rejection before he's even said a word. 

"Sure," Esteban says and he automatically smiles, his heart rate quickening as he notices the brilliant blue of his eyes and the way they crinkle when he smiles. "I'm Esteban," he adds, putting his hand out. 

"Nicolas, but everyone calls me Nico," he says tripping over his words. He places down the full plate of food, piled high with pancakes and bacon, generously covered in maple syrup. They shake hands and Nico can't help but notice how soft Esteban's skin is; his own hands feel clammy and sticky in comparison. 

They talk, well Esteban talks, while Nico stuffs food into his face, still making appreciative noises to show he's listening but he needs the comfort of food, he's strangely nervous about speaking to Esteban, worried that he'll give the wrong impression.

Esteban tells him all about how he's just finished studying at University, architecture and he's currently hunting for a job in his field otherwise he's going to carry on working in Burger King for a while. Nico nods, he knows that feeling, he worked in McDonalds for nearly a year after he finished University until he got the job he has at the moment, working in computer design for a large car manufacturer.

Nico's trying not to mention his ex, trying so hard, but he ends up telling Esteban everything, and he empathises, he's just been through a bad break up of his own. Nico wants to ask if it's an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend but stops himself just in time. He knows it would come out sounding a lot more judgemental that he wants it to, he's not sure why but he wants to impress Esteban, wants him to like him. 

There's staff shuffling around them, clearing up and not so subtly hinting that maybe they should carry their conversation on elsewhere. Nico doesn't want to leave, now that he's sitting with Esteban most of the creepy guys have left him alone. The one that was stupid enough to hit on him in front of Esteban, interrupting him while he was speaking, got a look that said _if you don't leave now you'll regret it_.

"Do you want to play tennis?" Esteban asks, he can see that Nico's not really comfortable around other people, "The courts are separate so it would just be the two of us," he adds but it sounds more like he's asking him on a date. Esteban blushes as he panics but when he sees Nico smile he calms right down.

"I love tennis," Nico beams and they agree a time to meet so that they can both get changed into their sports gear.

Nico's wearing a long jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt so that he can make it to the tennis courts unmolested, but he's got his shorts on underneath and he usually prefers to play topless, and he hopes that Esteban doesn't mind.

Esteban's shocked by the sight of Nico topless, when he's asked if it's ok he makes just a grunting sound in response. He manages to pull himself together just long enough to say "Uh, yeah," smooth talking at it's finest, Esteban thinks as he wants to jump over the railing and into the ocean.

"Cool, best two out of three?" Nico says and Esteban nods for fear that more strange noises will come out of his mouth rather than actual words.

Nico wins in two straight sets, Esteban's normal tennis skills no match for Nico's and his attention was much more firmly on Nico's body than the ball. Afterwards they use the showers there and Esteban tries, really tries, not to look at Nico naked. He fails so badly, and ends up admiring his body as he lathers his silky blond hair, watching as the water trails over his toned body, running over the perfect curve of his ass and Esteban's painfully aware that his arousal is showing. He faces the wall while saying to Nico that he'll be a little bit longer, trying to will it to go down.

Esteban manages to get it to go down enough that it's not obvious, and changes back into his clothes carefully, watching the zip on his jeans. Nico's suggesting lunch, having watched him eat he's sure that Nico's only here for the all-you-can-eat meals.

Over lunch Esteban gets to see lots of photos of Nico's niece, and he ends up showing all his pictures of his younger cousins, nieces and nephews. They end up talking about how they both want children and Esteban's heart skips a beat at the thought of Nico holding _their_ child. But then he starts to wonder what is wrong with him and why is he imagining raising children with someone who was a stranger to him less than twenty-four hours ago.

They end up sipping cocktails and watching the sun go down, Nico seems happier now that he's acting as a shield. Once the darkness descends Esteban shivers and Nico places his jacket around him, the warmth and the delicate scent of Nico enveloping him. It feels just perfect, Nico's got an arm around him and it wouldn't take a lot of effort to reach up and kiss him. He turns to make a move when he sees that Nico is fast asleep, dozing on his shoulder. Esteban can't bear the thought of disturbing him when he looks so beautiful, although that seems to be his natural state, so they sit together on the deck until the sun comes back up.

Nico's aware of someone cuddled into him as he's in that post sleep haze and he stretches his arms around them before slowly kissing the side of their neck. He's nuzzling into them and then there's lips meeting his, soft and moist, sleepily kissing him back. Fingers running through his hair and touching that spot behind his ear that makes him gasp. And then he remembers that he broke up with his girlfriend. Who the hell is he kissing?

His eyes fly open and when he sees Esteban he's pushing him away, the look of shock on his face sends a stab of pain through Nico's body but he's running away, he's not into guys, it was all just a mistake. He spends the rest of the cruise locked in his cabin; catching up on his reading, thinking back on what happened and how good it felt. Not just the kiss but all the time spent with Esteban, how easy he was to talk to and be around. How he made him feel like he could say anything and not be judged. Finally when the time comes to go home, he feels the pain of a missed opportunity.

Nico's running around as all the passengers disembark, scouring the crowds for a glimpse of Esteban so that he can at least apologise, ask him for another chance, explain how he feels. But there's no sign of him. The flight home is like the worst kind of torture, eight hours with nothing to do but wonder how different things could have been if only he wasn't so narrow minded.

When Nico arrives at the airport he has another unpleasant surprise, he forgot that Adrian had said that he would pick him up.

"Have fun?" Adrian smirks, "Get lots of cock?" and he can't keep the laughter in.

Nico's had enough of this, "Yeah, loads. So much that I'm surprised I can sit down," he scowls. It wipes the smirk right off Adrian's face and the rest of the journey goes in silence.

When they finally pull up outside Nico's block of flats, he feels he should thank Adrian for the lift, it's only polite but after the way he's treated him, he's going to get a piece of his mind. "Don't ever call me again. We're no longer friends," and with that he's storming into his flat before slumping down behind the front door and letting the tears stream out.

Weeks pass by and the memory of the holiday and his fight with Adrian start to fade from his memory. He spends time with his niece and works extra hard and his life falls into a comfortable routine. Until one Thursday he gets an unexpected visitor.

"Hi"

"Hi," Nico almost has to look twice to check that it's really him, it's really Esteban. "What are you doing here?" he asks and he tries not to make it sound like an accusation.

"I got a job in the city… you mentioned that you worked here… and I wanted to return this," Esteban says, holding out Nico's jacket that he gave him when he was cold.

"Oh, thank you," Nico blurts, unsure of what to say.

"Well, I should be going," Esteban says in an equally awkward manner. He turns to leave but Nico can't bear to make the same mistake twice. Nico reaches out for Esteban's hand before twirling him round to face him. He's been picturing this in his head ever since the holiday, not expecting to ever have a chance to actually do this in reality, the kiss is gentle, chaste but it sends sparks of lust through his body. Nico feels a peace within himself that he hasn't felt in a very long while and he knows that this is right.

He breaks the kiss after Esteban gasps, the workplace isn't really the place for this, but he can't let Esteban get away this time. "Do you want to get some lunch?" Nico asks and Esteban just laughs.

"Food, always food with you!" he mocks, grinning madly before saying, "I'd love to!"

**Author's Note:**

> *and obviously none of this actually happened, it is all a figment of my twisted imagination ;)


End file.
